Washington, Feb 21(ANI): Raymond Davis, the American who shot dead two men in Lahore, triggering a diplomatic crisis between the United States and Pakistan, is a CIA agent who was on assignment at the time.

Pakistani authorities have charged Davis with murder, but the Obama administration has insisted that he is an “administrative and technical official” attached to its Lahore consulate and has diplomatic immunity.

However, based on interviews in the US and Pakistan, the Guardian reported that the 36-year-old former special forces soldier was employed by the CIA.

The newspaper said that Davis’s role in the country is under speculation because of the equipment police confiscated from his car: an unlicensed pistol, a long-range radio, a GPS device, an infrared torch and a camera with pictures of buildings around Lahore.

“This is not the work of a diplomat. He was doing espionage and surveillance activities,” Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah said, adding that he had “confirmation” that Davis was a CIA employee.

“It’s beyond a shadow of a doubt,” a senior Pakistani intelligence official added.

Davis has been the subject of widespread speculation since he opened fire with a semi-automatic pistol on the two men who had pulled up in front of his car in Lahore on January 25. (ANI)